Building a winning attitude at camp

Ashley Hunter, ECB Publishing, Inc.

The 9th Annual WIN WIN ELITE Football and Cheerleading Camp was held at Jefferson Somerset on Thursday, July 12. This year, the camp partnered with Leroy Smith and the Diamonds In The Rough Sports, Education and Entertainment to provide a winning concept of personal discipline, and having love and a heart for others.
Starting at 10 a.m. and ending around 2 p.m., the camp gathered Jefferson's athletic youth of all ages to engage in their sport as well as to learn how to respect one another, encourage one another and how to excel in greatness.
Leroy Smith and the Diamonds furthered the partnership for this event by bringing in the Jefferson County Health Department's Impact Team to teach the youth about the affects of peer pressure and how to resist giving in to it as well as the importance of surrounded themselves with positive people who build them up rather than bring them down.
The Impact Team spoke heavily on the lasting effects of negative influences, whether that be through the friends they make, the company they keep or the celebrities and lifestyles they idolize.
In order to further make their point, the Impact Team asked questions and drew answers from the youth themselves, with one young man, Sh'Marion Ford, going above and beyond in his answers regarding negative triggers and turning negative situations into positive outcomes.
Ford was invited to come to the front and speak to his fellow athletes and classmates about his experiences with bullying and negativity at school as well as his goals for his future, before adding, “I want to make my life better and help others.”
Some of the special guest visitors for the camp were various former and current athletes. Zoron Wade, a football athlete at FAMU football; Jibreel Hazley, a football athlete at FAMU, Jajuan Harley, a former NFL Buffalo Bills athlete; and Erin Mays, the head cheerleading coach at Jefferson were all a part of the program.
After the discussion by the Impact Team, the visiting athletes autographed photos while the youth enjoyed pizza.